I'm Hungry

and Pinterest isn't helping! I missed breakfast this morning because didn't realize that tonight's dinner plan was to make game hens in the crockpot until 6:42 this morning as I was putting the milk back in the fridge and saw the hens, all thawed out and waiting to be potted. So I dumped my cereal down the drain and threw together what I am sure will not be my most spectacular meal ever. Although, I did get all the ingredients into the pot. So that fiasco made me 5 minutes late to leave the house, which meant that I dropped my hubby off at work 5 mintues later than I normally do, but I still had time to make a Mickey D's run. Until an enormous contruction vehicle pulled into the road in front of me, blocking my lane and the passing lane and moved forward so unbelievably slowly. I think I saw a snail sludge past me. Seriously. By the time the monstrosity has gotten out of the way, I only had 3 minutes to make it to work on time and that's the story of how I missed breakfast.

Unfortunately, when I got to work, I logged onto Pinterest and started looking at all the new recipes that had been posted since yesterday. I think my stomach is going to turn itself inside out over some of those pictures I saw. Namely, this one:

Seriously? How can you look at that on a day that you missed breakfast and not drool all over your keyboard?

*sigh*

In other news, we're doing Secret Santa at work and the other day, I walked up to the person I drew and said, "Did you get anything good?" The person sighed and said, "I got another soda and more candy. My Secret Santa is trying to make me fat!" Facepalm. I should've known better than to ask.

My Christmas tree only has a string of cranberries around the top 2 layers because the string I made wasn't long enough, and I don't have enough cranberries to make a string long enough to go around the bottom of the tree and I keep forgetting to buy them when I go to the store.

Yesterday, I told a kid that I wasn't going to send him back to class unless he lit something on fire. He promptly got out of his chair and started to fiddle with the printer. I also told a class of second grader's about "pinch, punch, first day of the month!". And now their teacher is telling me that they're pinching and punching each other. I'm just going to stop talking to these kids before I give them any more dangerous ideas.

I've been writing this post over the last hour, in between helping kids do stuff on the computer and my mind had gotten off of the fact that I missed breakfast. Then I sat down to finish the post and I saw the picture of the eggs and bacon baked in the potato and I got hungry all over again. I have decided that Pinterest is self-defeating. And yet, I will be going back there as soon as I post this. I just can't stay away.

Have a great weekend!

Rip Van Winkle

Have you ever heard the story of Rip Van Winkle? If not, I'll recap for you: he slept for twenty years. (There's more to the story than that, but that's the part on which I want to focus.)

I kinda feel like Rip Van Allison. The last few months have been ridiculous. I stopped blogging in September because I forgot to take some photos for my 30-day photography challenge and didn't want to blog again until I caught up. Needless to say, I didn't catch up. Then October came, and with it, a visit to the doctor and a diagnosis of severe depression. Like, really severe. They wanted to send me to an inpatient facility. Which I refused. But I did start taking an anti-depressant and seeing a counsellor. Then I discovered Pinterest. And a game on Facebook called Gardens of Time. And all the energy I was spending on blogging was suddenly being spent on my scroll button as I gazed longingly at the houses I will never have, the crafts I will never do, and the food that I have already begun to make.

And that's about all you've missed (if you missed anything) in the life of me. I did host my first Thanksgiving gathering at our apartment. I found a fantastic recipe for a whole turkey breast, which I really want to make again. Ooh! And I finally decorated our apartment! I put pictures in the frames and hung them on the wall. I dragged my best friend to Hobby Lobby, Goodwill and Garden Ridge to help me pick out throw pillows and a mirror for the wall. We bought a Christmas tree and it's almost all decorated and our apartment is really looking like a woman lives there now. (It certainly took me long enough.)

And in case you were wondering, the anti-depressants are working fantastically and I am feeling MUCH more like myself. But be warned, because happy Allison whistles and makes REALLY dumb jokes (put your pointer finger horizontally under your nose and go tell your spouse that you "mustache" them a question.") and sings ALL the time.

And just because I wanted to use the word "and" again, I need to tell you that the Jim Brickman Holiday station on Pandora is WONDERFUL instrumental Christmas music. It is making my stressful school day so much calmer.

I don't know how much I will be blogging in the future, but I'll try not to disappear again. I can't wait to catch up on all the blogs I missed, I hope that your lives are more exciting than mine! :-)

Day 8: A Bad Habit

I have lots of bad habits. But I didn't want to take a picture of my nibbled-on nails, the half-empty can of Pringles in my pantry, or of the speedometer as I went home going 45 in a 35. So I took a picture of my kitchen sink. My husband has agreed to do the dishes after dinner. He hasn't done then dishes since Monday. That's his bad habit. My bad habit is that I don't do anything about it and let the dishes pile up. So, here's a picture of our kitchen sink, with some photo editing.

:-)

Day 7

I know, I know, today isn't really Day 7, it's Day 8. But last night, my computer was being sooo slow and I couldn't even get the picture to upload to my editing site. So I waited and posted it first thing this morning. Please forgive my tardiness. And don't worry. Today's picture should be posted later today.



Days 5 and 6

Day 6: From a low angle.

Day 5, Coming Soon

I did not get a chance to post my Day 5 picture yesterday, but I took it, and I will get it up later today, along with Day 6. I skipped Music Monday in honor of the Labor Day weekend, and due to the fact that on Friday, my sinus and respiratory system staged an all-out attack on my well-being. On Saturday, my asthma joined the assault. It was so sad that the weather was so lovely, but I hardly had the energy to go downstairs to lay on the couch. By Monday evening, I was feeling better, and today, only the final vestiges of battle still remain: a hacking cough and the remnants of what could have become pneumonia if I hadn't stared taking Sudafed 12 hour decongestant and Mucinex. (FYI, those two meds together are what I swear by when it comes to sinus infections and respiratory infections. They clear everything out and keep you from getting really sick if you start taking them at the onset of sinus symptoms).

I did manage to bake some bread and some Nutella Cupcakes this weekend. The cupcakes turned out pretty well, but I think that next time I will frost them. They were just a bit on the dry side.

So that was my weekend. How was yours?

Day 4

I have to be honest. I cheated on this one. I waited for DH to come home from work to take me to the park for this picture. But then he didn't talk me till after it got dark. So I'm posting a picture from our honeymoon.

Day 4: Something Green

Day 3

I love my point-and shoot, but I have to wonder if a better camera with a more sophisticated lens might have better captured the moon, which is that tiny little crescent shaped thingy just above the tree.

Photo Challenge: Day 2

Photoblog Challenge

Good morning everyone! It's Friday! I am very excited. Know why? Because it's a 3 day weekend!!! The only thing better than Labor Day weekend is Thanksgiving Break. And the only thing better than Thanksgivng Break is Spring Break. And the only thing better than Spring Break is Christmas Break. And the only thing better than Christmas Break is... you guessed it, the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! But I digress.

Yesterday I was going to start a 30 day photography challenge. But the assignment for Day 1 was a self-portrait. And after I got home from work, I slept for two hours, woke up to say goodbye to my husband (stupid football game and friends who like to watch the stupid football game), and then pretty much just sat on the couch, waiting for it to be late enough for me to justify going back to bed. So I took my self portrait with my phone on the way to work. And I'm going to post Day One and Day Two today. But not now. I haven't taken the Day 2 photo yet. I'm not even sure what it's supposed to be, but I have my camera with me at school today. So I'll get it and then I will blog it. Be excited. I'm sure it will be epic. Or not. But at least it will help me get some pictures on this thing. I realize that my blog is extremely picture deficient. That's probably because my life is really photo-op deficient.

Anyway, without further ado, please allow me the pleasure of introducing you to the Metamorphosis 30 Day Photography Challenge. *drum roll*



Music Monday: Nothing But the Blood

It's Music Monday again!

This weekend, God really broke my heart over the flippant way I view my sin. I tend to look at it as a normal part of life, something that is inevitably going to happen, and therefore, not something to cause me to freak out. Our pastor preached Lamentations 3 yesterday. In Lamentations 3 are the verses which inspired the hymn, "Great is Thy Faithfulness". It's a chapter where the prophet Jeremiah is mourning the destruction of his people, Israel. He says that God has broken his teeth with gravel and covered him with ashes (v. 16). But then he remembers the covenant promise that God made with Israel so many years before. He promised that they would be His chosen people, and out of them would come Messiah, who would save His people from their sins. And even though Israel continually failed to hold up their end of the covenant, God was faithful to keep His promise.

What I've never realized before is that God made a blood covenant with me, when He called me to accept the sacrifice of His son and to become His daughter. His covenant with me promises that He will cover all my sins with the blood that Jesus spilled on the cross, that He will claim me as His own, that I will not die, but will have everlasting life. My covenant with Him says that "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal 2:20). I no longer have to right to live in my own will. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. My covenant promise is that I will live for Him and the way He wills. I must conform my will to His.

And even though I fail miserably at holding up my end of the covenant, God is faithful. He does not nullify the covenant with me when I fail, just as He didn't abandon Israel. He is faithful.

I have entered into a blood covenant with the Almighty God of all. And I am a fool to think that violating the terms of that covenant is something to be taken lightly. When Israel violated the covenant relationship, God responded with warnings, and when those went unheeded, He sent other kingdoms to destroy His chosen people. I have spent too long treating my sins as mundane and unavoidable. I have sought to execute my own will instead of seeking His. And now, I am filled with wonder and gratefulness that He is infinitely more faithful than I.

Consider the blood of Christ today, and what it means to you. How seriously are you taking the covenant that God made with you when He called you as His own?

My set list for tonight is as follows:

1. Glorious One (Steve Fee)
2. Mighty to Save (Hillsong)
3. How He Loves (David Crowder)
4. Glorious Day (Casting Crowns)
5. How Deep the Father's Love for Us (Stuart Townend)

I hope you have a blessed week.

 

Introducing.....

Welcome friends, to my new "thing". Today shall henceforth and forevermore be known as Music Monday here at Metamorphosis! Whoa, that's a lot of M's. Totally didn't do that on purpose. The point of Music Monday is to share music! Music that you just found and are absolutely loving, music that you've known FOREVER, but want to share again because it's so stinking awesome, or even music that perhaps shouldn't even be counted as such. I will hopefully be able to post at least a clip of the songs that I find each week, if not a YouTube video. On Music Monday, I will also begin posting the setlist of worship music that I will be playing for my Bible study group.

So here we go. The very first Music Monday. I feel I should pause in honor of this auspicious occasion.

...

Good enough. :-)

The song I want to share this week is becoming one of my favorite worship songs. It is a good song that reminds me a little more of Who God is when I consider the lyrics. I hope you enjoy it and it touches your heart!

My setlist for tonight:

1. Happy Day - Tim Hughes
2. Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall
3. Cannons - Phil Wickham
4. Revelation Song - Jennie Lee Riddle

I hope you have a wonderful week! I'm having fun seeing all the little ones from my school who have gone from pre-k to kindergarten, kindergarten to first grade and so on. They are all so cute, and even after only knowing them for one school year, they still seem too young to be such big boys and girls. I can only imagine the way all you parents feel.

Whew.

Happy Music Monday!

Chocolate Cake and Flying Pups

Happy Friday everyone. Except me. I didn't want this Friday to come because this Friday signifies a very sad thing. Summer is over and I have to go back to work on Monday. UGH. I am thankful I have a job. I am thankful that I have a job that I don't hate. I am thankful I have a job where I get paid to not work for two and a half months. All that being said... I do not want to go back to work on Monday.

Last week I made a chocolate cake and icing from scratch. I ate some. It was good. My best friend's husband also ate some. He said it was good. My husband ate some. He said chocolate isn't his favorite. This week, I made spice cake and butter icing from scratch. I ate some. It was gooooooood. I ate some for breakfast this morning. My husband ate some. He said that he likes chocolate better. 

Facepalm.

One of my favorite things that we've begun to do as a married couple is go hang out with our friends, Amanda Jo and David. Amanda and David have a dog named Benny. I do not like dogs. I'm sorry if you think that is unAmerican, but it is true. Dogs are hairy, dirty, smelly and they have breath that smells like death. Benny is not a dirty or particularly smelly dog. I like Benny more than most dogs. But not enough to let him cuddle in my lap. Which is what he tried to do last week. So I picked him up and threw him. Which didn't seem like such a bad idea in my head, but the execution of tossing the poor pup to David's lap failed miserably.

So the next time we went to Benny's house, I let him sit in my lap and I petted him. 

I think he forgave me.

I have spent way too much time over the last few weeks playing SIMS 2 on my PS2. (It's better than watching a zillion and one depressing crime shows.) I've completed about 50% of the game. And I haven't turned off the PS2 in days because I can't find the memory cards and I don't want to lose all that hard work.

When I was 19, I got a new-to-me car. On my one-week anniversary with this car, I showed it my appreciation by sidling it up against a huge truck. The passenger side front door would never open again. Now I'm 24. And I got a new car this week. I am staying far, FAR away from all ginormous pickup trucks.

I go back to work Monday. The kids show up the Monday after that. I am going to be teaching computer this year. Pray for me. I've never taught computer before. I am scared.

Have a good weekend! :-)

Confessions of a Newlywed

Hello again! It's been so long, I hope you still remember me! My confessions aren't going to be in bullet points today. They're better served with paragraph-like form.

I've been married 48 days, and, to be honest, I think that the newlyweds who gush that newlywed life is, "so great! We've never been happier," are just being cliche. That's not to say that I'm not happy. I am. I love my husband and I'm very glad to be married to him. But this whole newly wed thing just seems like a natural extension of normal life. It's not the fairytale that I used to think it would be. He leaves the toilet seat up right before bed, and I fall in when I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without turning the light on first. I creep him out by leaving hair in the shower. We bicker about who takes up more space when it's time to sleep. Then I apparently kick him in my sleep while I'm having nightmares about getting pregnant and being chased through the street (no more NCIS before bed). He tells me he's leaving for work and then scares the crap out of me when he comes back upstairs, looking for his keys (no wonder I kicked him). I make dinner and he does the dishes. I fill up the trash can and he takes it out, although after last trash day, I feel the need to check the locks after he comes in. He tickles me when I'm not paying attention to him. I do laundry (it works better when you don't get the fabric softener mixed up with the detergent) and bake (also works better when you don't confuse baking powder with baking soda), he acts like I'm a culinary genius when my first attempt at yeast rolls turns out perfectly risen and moist and yummy and gratefully stops eating when his picky, but creative wife proclaims the new recipe she tried is absolutely disgusting. 

All of this is just life. It's messy, and boring and fun and normal. 

I guess that's what happens after the fairy tale ending. After the credits roll and the music ends. Life just happens. And I guess that IS the happily ever after. Because the alternative is life not happening. And that;s just a buzz-kill. 

Welp, it's date night, my hubby will be home in about 2 hours and I still haven't washed my hair or shaved my legs, so I should probably sign off. 

I go back to work August 17. School starts again August 22. My principal called me yesterday and instead of being the library aide this year, I'm going to be the computer teacher. I'm excited to try something new, but I'm sad that I won't be in the library. Wish me luck, I probably won't have anything new to post until after school starts. Most of what I do these days doesn't merit being written about.

Take care, everyone!

A Wedding Story

I know it's been almost a month, but I finally got the pictures from the wedding! So now I can tell you the story of our wedding. (Since I know you've been waiting with baited breath to hear all about it)

The first thing I learned about planning my wedding is that I should have taken more pictures myself. Or else I should learn to draw. I am fairly certain I will never forget June 10-11, 2011, but I didn't take the pictures that speak so much more than the descriptive words I could use. Oh well. On Friday, I spent all morning and the afternoon at the church setting up for the wedding. I could not have done it without my wonderful friend Amanda Jo who stepped in at the last minute to be my maid-of-honor (that's a story for another day), packed up her laptop and Star Wars movie for her little guy to watch, got me a sandwich from Chick-fil-a, and came up to the church to help me set everything up; my mom and sister Amanda, who also came up to the church and helped set tables, dye water, distribute Hershey kisses, etc. We also made the buttonieres for all they guys. Even some of the groomsmen came and helped move tables and stuff. We set each table with a white table cloth, a 12" by 12" square mirror, a half-fishbowl type of bowl half-filled with purple water and floating ivory candles, and a mix of milk and dark chocolate Hershey kisses.

The guestbook table

I chose not to decorate the sanctuary, so there aren't any pictures of how we did that. :-) (Side note, I think not decorating the sanctuary was a GREAT idea. Less to do = less stress = happier bride)

After decorating all day, I had just enough time to go home, shower and get ready for the rehearsal dinner. 

Everything went smoothly, and we walked down the aisle for the first time.

The dinner was yummy. Matt's family did most of the cooking, and we had barbeque. After we ate, I went back to my apartment with Matt, John (the Best Man) and his girlfriend, and Cody (one of our ushers) and his wife Sarah. Then I realized I didn't have any shaving gel, so we had to go to Walmart. 

Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:45. Not because of nerves, but because my sister CALLED me to tell me that I was getting married that day. I was rather mad at her for waking me up when I was so peacefully unaware that in just 7 hours and 15 minutes, I would be walking down the aisle, but I was also happily excited that in just 7 hours and 15 minutes, I would be walking down the aisle, so I didn't even give her a hard time for waking me up at such an ungodly hour.

We stopped at the florist to pick up the flowers for the girls and everything was BEAUTIFUL. I wish I had taken a good picture of my bouquet, but there were other things on my mind... In addition to looking beautiful, our flowers smelled lovely too, thanks to the addition of purple freesia. Mmm. FYI, if you need flowers and live in the DFW area, call Cooper's Florist in Bedford. Jamie is a wonderful Christian lady and she did a beautiful job for a very reasonable price.

Then we were at the church and it was time to get ready! (And I'm totally about to blow it up with photos. (Yay!) 

My dress! I was so excited to get to wear it. My momma picked it out and it is so beautiful. Now I'm kinda sad that I won't get to wear it again. (Nerd alert!)

I will never, EVER wear a petticoat in June again. It made my dress look AWESOME, but it was hot. 

As in, I had to put anti-perspirant on my upper thighs.

Yeah. 

Ugh.

My momma laced up my dress. In the top picture I was apparently talking animatedly about something, but I don't remember what. Sorry. In the bottom picture, I was holding my breath and sucking in, praying that the dress would fit. Guess who had nightmares about ballooning to the size of a gorilla?

Amanda's friend Crissy gave me a HUGE blessing by coming up to the church and doing our makeup. She even had fake eyelashes for me! (They kinda freaked Matt out at first, but I thought they looked epic!)

And after my hair was fixed, the veil in place, makeup done, dress on, flowers in hand, this was this finished product.I felt so absolutely beautiful. Which I have decided is a minor purpose of weddings. 

After all the pre-wedding photos were done, we still had to wait 45 minutes for the ceremony to start. One of my bridesmaids prayed Proverbs 31 over me,

and I ate a granola bar. But I don't have a picture of that. Aren't you sad? I'm sorry.

Then everyone left me to go line up, but I couldn't leave the dressing room because I didn't want Matt to see me, and he wasn't in the sanctuary yet. And I had to watch my flowergirl because there wasn't anyone else to keep her from running amok and messing up her sash. So we sang songs from the Sound of Music and then it was time to go. I got in line with my grandpa and waited for the doors to open. 

Then I walked down the aisle and got married. :-)

My Ring Bearer and Flower Girl

The doors opening

I'm not sure why I made this face.

"I...

...do."

Alrighty, I know I'm stopping in the middle of the ceremony, but my computer is freaking out and I've been working on this post for 3 days and I really don't want to lose it. So I'll post the second half of the ceremony and the reception pictures later.

Hope you're having a good week!

~Allison~

Breaking the Ice

Following Amy at Ha ha, Wait. What?, I have discovered a new blog. I'm going to try this out today. Not sure if I'll do it again, but I enjoy these little questionnaires and they help when I have writer's block. Which seems to be more often than not. Oh well. Hope you'll link up too! 

 

Tell one thing that not many people know about you.

-My bellybutton is pierced

If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?

-Hmm... I haven't ever really thought about it. When  I was little, I wanted a shorter name. But I dunno. I've really gotten into Hebrew names lately. But I want those for any kids we may have. Eliana is my favorite. It means, "The Lord has answered"

What are your three favorite songs at the moment?

-1. Honey Bee by Blake Shelton

2. Dancing Like This by Paco Estrada

3. Why Don't We Just Dance by Josh Turner

List 3 goals on your life's to-do list.

1. Become a mommy

2. Go skydiving

3. Become a person who is a living example of Jesus Christ

What is one of your favorite quotes?

"I am not, but I know I AM" - Louie Giglio

Fill in the blank: "If I had an extra $10, I would buy ______"

Ten bucks? Probably an extra sushi roll. Love me some sushi!

What's your birth date?

March 9

Do you have a hidden talent? If so, what is it?

If I told you, it wouldn't be hidden.

What do you think of when you hear the word, "blue"?

 Skies, I suppose.

Finish this thought, "I need..."

"...another glass of water."

I hope everyone had a lovely Thursday. See you all tomorrow for Fess Up Friday! (And do I have a doozy for you!)

I'm Baaack!

Hello lovelies! Did you miss me? I certainly missed all of you. Last week was so crazy, what with the wedding and everything and then this week, my hubby and I went off the grid for our honeymoon (we just went to San Antonio, but we turned off our phones and didn't check Facebook for 4 whole days... except when I sneaked it while Matt was sleeping, shh, don't tell).

I have a ton of pictures to share, but I haven't gotten the ones from the wedding yet, so I want to wait to show the honeymoon pics till after I've shared the weddings pics. Keeping it all in order, ya know? 

I have some really funny Fess Ups from the week before the wedding, when I had total Bride Brain. I would've lost my head last week if it wasn't attached to my neck. It seems to be coming back now though. 

So here we go.

Friday evening, after spending all day setting up for the reception, I went home to take a shower and get ready for the Rehearsal Dinner. I was out of the shower and mostly dressed before I went to apply my deodorant and discovered that I had only managed to shave one of my armpits while I was in the shower.

Also Friday evening, I was getting ready for the Rehearsal dinner, I had to dry my hair. Once I was finished, I flipped the vent hood switch on the wall to turn off the dryer. When that didn't work, I flipped the switch back to where it had been and tried the switch next to it. That switch turned out the light in the bathroom. At this point, I was getting frustrated. After all, I'd never had any trouble turning off the hair dryer before! I flipped the light switch back on and tried the vent switch again before I realized that if I wanted to turn off the hairdryer, I would need to slide the switch on the dryer's handle into the "Off" position.

On Saturday morning, my sweet friend Amanda Jo was working on my hair. She did something goofy with it, just joking around, and I kinda laughed and said, "No, I don't like that." She continued to joke with me (and I knew she was joking), and I freaked out a little. (I yelled, "PANICKING, STOP!!!!)

While waiting for my cue to come out of the dressing room, my aunt (also the pianist) asked me to keep an eye on my cousin (also the flower girl), so that I could keep her (my cousin) calm so she wouldn't mess up her dress. To entertain her, I asked what her favorite song was. I spent the last 5 minutes of my single life singing songs from The Sound of Music.

On Tuesday night, Matt and I were sitting in bed and I just started bawling because I was sad that the wedding is over. I was like, "What do we do now???" And my husband sweetly answered, "Be married! Have fun! Hang out with other married couples and have fahncy din-nah pahtees." I think that just might have been one of the sweetest things he has ever said to me.

Happy Monday to everyone out there in Bloggerville! It's already 99 degrees Fahrenheit here in Northeast Tarrant County, and today is only the 6th day of June. Days are a bit warm, but the evenings are beautiful right now.

I don't really have a good reason for clicking the "New Post" button this afternoon, I was just reading the blogs that I'm subscribed to and realizing how much I enjoy blogging. I love reading about what other people are doing, seeing, tasting, etc. It's just alot of fun. And even though I only exchange comments with a few of you, I still feel like I've got this crazy online network of friends that I know better than I would if we were just on Facebook together or something like that.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, "Thank you!" Thank you for sharing your life with me. We're all in different stages of life and those of you who are ahead of me in the marriage and motherhood department make me smile with your stories of daily life, and make me look forward to the days when it's my turn even more. Those of you who may be my age but in a different place open my eyes to the fact that the world is so much bigger than the path that I have chosen. There are so many other, different choices to make and things to do and places to live. I am very happy with this life that I have chosen to love (no, that's not a typo), but it's cool and exciting to see what else is out there. And those of you who are just stepping out into this journey called life, you make me reminisce about the happy times I had when I was where you are, and then I hope and pray for you, that God will grant you the joy and love that He has seen fit to shower upon me. I am excited for you, because you have such grand things ahead of you, so many choices and decisions and things to do, see and believe! It's exhilarating for me to see the excitement in you.

I haven't met so many of you, but I've had the privilege to share in your life, just a little bit. And today I am realizing that it is such a treasure to share with you. I only hope that I am able to touch you in the same way that you touch me.

So thank you! And keep the blogs coming! I'm getting married in 5 days, I need something to keep me sane! :-)

Lost at Sea

So I apparently got in the sea of things that I have to do that do not involve the clicking of a keyboard as I type about random things.

I haven't even been able to keep up with all of your updates. I feel so out of the loop. And I'm sure that it's only going to get worse over the next week. 8 days to go.

How was Memorial Day? Mine was busy. I went shopping with one of my bridesmaids that morning, then I went shopping with my momma. Then I went to CareNow, because I contracted pinkeye in my left eye. By Monday at noon, both eyes were infected . Ugh. It's clearing up now, though, so I'm very thankful.

I'm trying out Pinterest, but I'm not very good at it.

My sister has something like 136 followers on her Tumblr. I'm jealous.

Maybe I should read it. And copy her style.
........
Or not.

It's Friday, technically, but I'm afraid that Fessing Up won't happen again till after the wedding. And it may not happen again till after school starts back up. I'm just not as exciting when it's summer and I don't really have anything to do.

And we all know that I am so exciting normally. :-)

Have a good weekend everyone!

Rain, Hail and Swirling Vortexes

It's tornado season. As I type this, I can hear the rain beating against the window and I am just waiting for the "Emergency Alert System" to start blaring from the TV that my fiance is watching. I don't know what the rest of tonight will hold as far as the storms go, but it seems to me that there has been a lot of disaster lately. Between the flooding in the Mississippi River basin and the tornados in Alabama and Missouri and the one that touched down not 10 miles from my house earlier this evening, combined with the arrest and suicide of a local pastor and the continued unrest in the middle east, I'm feeling like the world cannot continue like this much longer.

As much as I disagree with those who would try to predict the day that the world is going to end, I cannot say that I blame them for thinking that the end must be near. This is a sad and scary world that we live in. But in the middle of all this sin and destruction, there is hope.

And that wonderful hope is that God is in control. And He works all to His glory. I cannot say that I understand how He will gain glory from what I see to be horrendous disaster, but I can most certainly take comfort in the fact that He is a very good God, and that everything He does has a purpose.

Being reminded of the wretchedness of this world makes me long for the perfection, peace and joy of Heaven, which is a wonderful thing. Too often I get caught up in the temporal pleasures of this life. It is good to be reminded that this is not our home.

Hosanna Adonai. Come, Lord.

'Fess Up Friday... I Got Nothing

So... it's Friday again. and I'm not all that excited. I usually love Fridays. But this Friday is just taunting me. Because it's not next Friday, which just happens to be the last day of school. That Friday is looking all bright and shiny and special. Which makes this cloudy, rainy Friday look like... well... a cloudy, rainy Friday and when school is over today, I will go home and have nothing to do because most of my friends are busy (work, families, other plans) and my fiance is going to be busy with his buddies at his bachelor party and I won't even be allowed to tex him.

*sigh*

Well, I can probably text him, but I've been informed that he will not be allowed to text me back. And I don't really want to text him during his bachelor party. That would kind of defeat the purpose of a bachelor party.

*sigh*

I feel really lame.

I didn't even change my Facebook status all week.

Maybe if I go shopping I will feel better.

But I think that will probably remind me that I haven't lost the weight that I need to lose for my wedding that is 3 weeks from tomorrow.

It's good to know that next Friday I will not be so depressed. I will be ecstatic about the end of school.

*sigh*

5 more days.

Fess Up Friday



It's Friday! Blogger has been down all day and I've been so sad. But now it's back ond the world is right again. What a crazy week. Two more weeks of school and I'm getting antsy. 10 more days. There is so much to do! Between running inventory and trying to make sure all of the books come back and get repaired and shelved and trying to control the kiddo's in the cafeteria, I'm surprised I haven't lost my mind yet.

Added to that is the fact that my wedding is 4 weeks from tomorrow, and I've still got to send thank you cards for shower gifts, re-send the invitations that came back with an incorrect address, decide how I'm going to wear my hair, pay the florist, choose a punch recipe, and a dozen other things.
Woot. Gotta love being busy. Welp, on to the confessions.

• I  led worship for evening service last Sunday. I wore a cute white skirt and a brown top with a pastel-melony colored cami. I was trying really hard to focus only on God while I played and sang, but all of a sudden, I started feeling this trickle of sweat run down the back of my leg, and all I could think about from that point on was, "Lord, please don't let anyone see!"
•  
• I've recently discovered that I have a mild lactose intolerance (as if I needed something else to add to my nerd factor). This week I decided to try removing dairy from my diet to see what happened. I posted that I was removing dairy from my diet on Facebook, after which I noticed that the ads that run on the margins of the page had changed from wedding-themed to soymilk and ice-cream. Not sure how those two go together.
•  
• I had two more things to add. I was thinking about them last night. I thought, "Oh yeah, I can't forget about these. I've got to remeber so that I can post them for Fess Up Friday...." Guess what. I forgot.

Sorry that's all I've got. I've got a shower for me this weekend, a shower for someone else and a wedding next weekend, a shower for me the next weekend and I'm getting married the weekend after that. Holy cow time is speeding by. My ringbearer pillow came in! It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be, but oh well.

Still waiting on the cake topper.

I'm really excited. Have a great weekend everyone!

Questions for me

Happy Thursday everyone. Although I have recently decided that Thursdays are pretty useless. (Except for the fact that The Big Bang Theory airs on Thursday nights) Seriously. Poor Thursday is the day stuck between Wednesday (Hooray, the week is half-over!!!) and Friday (WEEKEND!!!). It's not special and it's nothing to get excited about.

But I digress. I was reading Inside the Cabinet of Wonder and Nicola mentioned doing a question post. Once she explained the idea to me, I thought it sounded fun and now I am shamelessly copying her. So ask away! I'll collect the questions until I feel I've got enough to create a sufficiently interesting and lengthy post, answer them and then I will post the result.

Doesn't that sound fun? I think it does. Woot... Speaking of which, I need to check Woot.com, I haven't done that yet today!

I hope you find something good about Thursday!

Question for those who know more than I do

Today marks the beginning of the "One Month Till Marriage" countdown. Yikes!

Today, I'd like to blog about a situation that I don't know what to do about, and now seems to be resolved, but I can't because I don't want to talk badly about my fiance, whom I love very much and am trying very hard to respect.

Oy vey.

31 days to go.

Fess Up Friday

It's Friday, it's Friday... I'm so excited! Oh. Wait. I've got an inclement weather make up day tomorrow. Ugh. Oh well. Only 15 more days of school, and 17 more days of duty and then... SUMMER. Then 2 more weeks and then... MARRIAGE. Eek. Time is flying and crawling at the same time. It's kind of like when I was little and Christmas seemed to take forever to get here, but it's different.

*sigh*

 Oh well, on to the 'fessions. :-)

• I am in love with a book written for kindergarteners.
  

Isn't it cute?!?!? But why, you may ask, is this a confession?
Because I don't have children.

• Along the same lines, I started a book by one of my favorite British authors on my birthday (in March). I still haven't finished it (or the other 2 books I bought with it) because I'm too busy reading books that were written for little kids. See the following:



Exhibit A

Exhibit B



And the slighty less embarassing because it has more than 10 pages,

Exhibit C

• I played Scrabble with Amanda Jo last night. I won. By like, 30 points.
  We're hanging out again on Saturday. I probably should not have bragged about beating her because pride comes before a fall.
  Not sure if this counts as a confession, but I wanted to brag, pride fall or not.
• I was in charge of bringing the snacks to Amanda's last night, I was really good and brought carrot and celery sticks. Then this morning, I went to the donut store. Oops.
• I tried to say "phooey' and "poop" at the same time, in reaction to something not fun that had happened. I don't remember why I said it, I just know that when I tried to combine "phooey" and "poop", I got "foop"
  I don't even wanna know what "foop" would look like.
• I had to edit this post 3 times because I kept forgetting things I needed to put on here, like the "Fess up Button". The last time I had to click the "Edit Post" button, it was because I forgot to add that I had had to edit the post 3 times. Blah

I think that's all I've got for today. I'll add more if something else occurs to me. Have a great weekend everyone! And hug your momma. She deserves it, I know mine does!

Wow. It's not even 9:00 and this Monday is already par for the course. I can't find my keys ANYWHERE, so Matt had to drive me to work this morning. I'm not sure how I'm going to get home. Locked inside my car are my school ID, my school keys, all of my jackets, extra wedding invitations, address labels and stamps. I still can't find my guitar chord notebook, and I'm supposed to be leading a night of worship at Bible study tonight.

To top it all off, it's raining and cold and my asthma is having a field day. Ugh. Happy Monday, right?

Fess Up Friday! Woot.



Hooray! It's Friday. After spending 2 years waiting tables, I have a new appreciation for Friday. It no longer means a long, stressful evening of, "Would you like parmesan cheese on your pasta?" and "I'm so sorry I spilled that glass of iced tea all over your 5 year-old!" (that only happened once) or, "I'm sorry sir, but you've already had 16 beers, I can't bring you another one."

Ah, the adventures of waiting tables. I now have a solid appreciation for waitstaff. I do expect a little more from them, since I've done the job and I know what it takes to do it well, but I usually tip at least 20% because I remember how much it meant to me when I got a tip like that. (It meant I could have Wendy's for dinner that night instead of having to slurp down some Ramen when I got home).

But I digress. How was everyone's week? Mine was pretty good, I got a lot done for the wedding. I still can't decide how I want to wear my hair. Or how we're going to decorate the church. But I've still got 6 weeks. So I'm still not worried.

I'm more stressed about the fact that we're doing a night of worship at Bible study on Monday. I've never played the guitar and sang for an hour before. And I can't find my chord notebook. Ugh.

Okay, on to Fessing Up. I know that's what you came for. Alriiiight.

• Easter was on Sunday. I planned to go to church with my mom and sisters. My middle sister called me Easter morning and said, "Hey, I thought you were going to church with us." The phone call had woken me up, so I groggily replied, "Yeah, I am. What time is it?" My sister then proceeded to tell me that it was 10:45 (the service started at 11) and that they had already left.
  So that's the story of how I didn't go to church on Easter.

• I went to try on my wedding dress on Tuesday. Remember how excited I was that I'd been so good and lost the 10 pounds that I needed to lose? Well... I found them again. :-( That might have something to do with the fact that I am mildly addicted to Chickfila.

•   I could not remember to go to the store to get milk to keep at school. So I kept having to buy the little cartons from the cafeteria.

• I check woot.com every day. And while I'm there, I always click on the shirt.woot.com link.
  I think I may have a problem.

• I tried to get out of my desk chair a few minutes ago. Instead of putting my foot on the ground, though, I put it in the trash can under my desk. Fortunately, I did realize my mistake before trying to stand up and walk away.

• I was so proud of myself for not calling that kid James Polk again this week. Then I remembered that I didn't see him this week because of TAKS testing.
  What a letdown.

Okay, I think that's all I've got. Aside from this parting, unpaid advertisement. If you didn't watch The Big Bang Theory last night, you need to. Now. Seriously, click here.

Have a great weekend!

:-)

Etsy

So... I have discovered Etsy. In love! This week I have purchased  the following items from various shops on Etsty.

A personalized guest book.



A pen holder to use with said guestbook



And

A ringbearer pillow

I am so excited about how cute these things are and cannot wait to have them!

I know it's a short post, but that's all I'm really excited about today.

Except for the fact that I've chosen my music!!! I'm just going to post the processional and bridal entrance since I posted the other stuff a few weeks ago.

Enjoy!

The Butterfly Waltz will play during the seating of the mothers and the bridesmaids procession.

The Bridal March by Johnathan Cain is the song to which I will be walking down the aisle.

Hooray! Things are really falling into place!

46 more days.

:-)



'Fess Up Friday!!!

Happy Friday everyone! I am so excited that the week is over! Only 5 more weeks of school! And today is the 50-day mark of the Wedding Countdown. This was a big wedding week. I bought the stuff to make our reception centerpieces. I wrote Thank You Notes for shower gifts.I stuffed, addressed, sealed and stamped the invitations. *Whew*

Time for some 'fessin' up! Woot. Are you ready for this? Here we go.

• I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday alone in the library. That resulted in shelving all the books, a fnished template for address labels, and a little bit of dancing to my Michael Buble station on Pandora.

• On Wendesday morning, I woke up at 6:37. I needed to leave for school at 6:40. And I was supposed to get up at 6 so I could start a crockpot meal for dinner that night. My alarm went off as I was pulling out of the drvieway at 6:50. Ugh.

• I went to the post office to get stamps for our wedding invitations and was all excited because the poster for the stamps that are coming out next month was out and I saw that they were "Love" stamps and they were so pretty and I thought that I could get those stamps and they would be perfect, but then the postguy said that they weren't available yet and I was so bummed but then he pulled out a sheet of stamps that had purple flowers on them which is perfect because purple is one of my colors and the point of telling this story was so that I could make one of the longest run-on sentences I've ever written and guess what, I'm not even going to fix it even though the grammar nazi inside me is hollering for punctuation so there.

• I called that kid James again. He laughs at it now. But he still corrects me.

• I follow a blog called Fit Foodie Finds, and I love seeing her recipes and every time I read one of her entries, I get all motivated to start cooking at home and eating things that are more healthy and all that jazz... Then lunch time comes around and I go to Chick-fil-a and order a spicy chicken sandwich with a large fry and Chick-fil-a sauce and realize that I am much too happy with my slightly overweight self . I guess it's good that I don't hate myself, but I've got to find some sort of motivation to get in shape. I haven't seen Jillian Michaels in weeks. *shame*

On that happy note, have a great weekend!!!